Sea Otter on dive float

[descent]

... There is the letter of the law and then there is the spirit of the law. I'm pretty sure that gently and non-aggressively reclaiming your float from the otter, and if you want, heck, even do it when nobody is looking, I'm sure it would be a non event.

Maybe.

It might be a non-event if the otter was a well-rested adult male with no fights scheduled. Losing territory to bigger animals is still a setback, even for strong males with no responsibilities other than their appetite. Ideally, we would prefer that they not view every human as a territorial threat.

Wet, soaked, flattened sea otter fur is a little like a flooded drysuit. Their fur is not waterproof, and needs repeated fluffing up to trap air bubbles to provide thermal protection.

Tipping a tired adult into the cold ocean places additional stress on the animal. Can you tell if the otter is run down and getting hypothermic, or just lounging around and watching the sea gulls follow the fishing boats? Can you tell if the otter is a pregnant female? Can you tell if the otter is a mother that may be hunting to feed herself and a pup hidden in nearby kelp?

A female sea otter needs someplace safe to stash her pup while she hunts. Younger sea otter pups are as helpless as human newborns. They cannot feed or protect themselves, or even swim. The mother sometimes cannot catch enough food to keep herself and her pup alive.

Sometimes the pups are stashed on dry, stable floating surfaces. As you look up from the surface, can you tell an adult from a pup? How about a dependent juvenile?

Tipping a pup into the water without the mother nearby for protection could result in death of the pup by predation, starvation (due to separation) or hypothermia.

When their preferred diet is disrupted, abandonment and separation increase. Warmer eaters in an El Niño year reduce kelp, which eliminates food for sea urchins and removes shelter, exposing the animals to predation. Sometimes the mother dies of exhaustion and malnutrition while trying to raise a hungry pup. Sometimes a shark eats the mother. The separated pup cries in distress until cold or hunger take it, or until someone hears and paddles out to help.

For some reason, first year pup mortality in California approaches 75%. Lately, even the rescue volunteers are tired from a glut of beached marine mammals.

The issue is not simple. The law provides stiff penalties, many of which seem reasonable to me given the tiny populations of sea otters in the lower 48.

I wish there was a simple explanation, or an easy answer. We have neither.

Best regards and well wishes from sunny California.

 

[drrich2]

Descent:

Some good thoughts there. A few counterpoints...

1.) The diver's gas supply is getting run down, and the diver may eventually get cold waiting to get his float back.

2.) I assume people don't take floats for no reason, and there are probably laws against littering. So abandoning the floats (probably with dangling lines) seems unfeasible, and as your gas runs low, you will need to exit the ocean, and take your float with you. I don't see a good way around this.

3.) Floats are towed. Stands to reason you may occasionally yank on one in the course of diving. This would be true whether there was an otter on the float or not, and whether you knew it or not, and I suspect someone could yank on his float line and provoke the animal into getting off.

I'm sympathetic to the otters and hope that people will respect and support them by causing minimal disruption. If one gets on your float, and you've got the gas & NDL to kill and you're not too cold or otherwise needing to head back for a long swim in to shore, yeah, accommodate it! Why not?

I wonder how many people notice the animal on their float before it's late in the dive?

Richard.

 

[Akimbo]

Richard

I don’t think anyone was suggesting abandoning their float rather than waiting until the otter decides to leave on their own. Abandoning the idea of using a float was suggested, or a float that is inhospitable to an otter. It’s not like these guys will spend two hours napping on your float during daylight hours. They can’t go that long without eating.

Edit: Other than freediving Ab divers and spearfisherman, it is pretty rare for divers to use floats on this coast. The float in this case is for training.

 

[descent]

... I wonder how many people notice the animal on their float before it's late in the dive?

drrich2, your points are all reasonable, and well-considered.

In actual practice, I never have problems with otters, even right out in front of the Aquarium. They stay at least fifty feet away from me, usually several hundred, and I give them a wide berth.

That said, I am a fairly alpinist diver. No floats, no kayak, no miniature inflatable gas barge to support my hookah. I go in the ocean wearing whatever you see me carrying as I walk down the sidewalk.

I am curious to hear from @raftingtigger and the rest of the Kelp Kayak Navy. They may have had some closer contact.

 

[Scared Silly]

FWIW, a sea otter on a float, even temporarily would be no different than the sea lions that occupied Pier 39: History | Sea Lion Center

So as others have said I think you could be cited if you tried to reclaim your float whilst occupied. As such, I would look at a different float that would meet your needs. For instance, a round float.

 

[Akimbo]

FWIW, a sea otter on a float, even temporarily would be no different than the sea lions that occupied Pier 39…

Not exactly. Sea lions are not designated endangered. Perhaps as important where activists and politicians are concerned is sea lions aren’t nearly as cute out of the water, you can see there are a great many of them, even the pups are a lot bigger than a human child, they smell bad, often exhibit aggressive behavior that is generally off-putting, and don’t look nearly as vulnerable. Why does that matter? Public reactions, fund raising, and publicity.

 

[Scared Silly]

Not exactly. Sea lions are not designated endangered.

[FONT=Lato, sans-serif]Both they are protected by the Federal Marine Mammal Protection Act and though the ESA takes even greater precedent with the sea lions the restrictions were pretty limiting. I.e. they could not force sea lions off the dock. As such, given those limits. Dealing with sea otters is going to be even more restrictive. [/FONT]

 

[jaycanwk]

I can see how it is very difficult for someone outside the US to appreciate how unreasonably the environmental laws are sometimes applied here, especially in California. Unfortunately justice is not blind and is influenced by public sentiment. A few photos that look much worse than they really are can cause tremendous expense and anguish even IF the [-]letter[/-] spirit of the law ultimately prevails.

Fair enough. I just thought that maybe there could be some middle ground.

Maybe.

It might be a non-event if the otter was a well-rested adult male with no fights scheduled. Losing territory to bigger animals is still a setback, even for strong males with no responsibilities other than their appetite. Ideally, we would prefer that they not view every human as a territorial threat.

Wet, soaked, flattened sea otter fur is a little like a flooded drysuit. Their fur is not waterproof, and needs repeated fluffing up to trap air bubbles to provide thermal protection.

Tipping a tired adult into the cold ocean places additional stress on the animal. Can you tell if the otter is run down and getting hypothermic, or just lounging around and watching the sea gulls follow the fishing boats? Can you tell if the otter is a pregnant female? Can you tell if the otter is a mother that may be hunting to feed herself and a pup hidden in nearby kelp?

A female sea otter needs someplace safe to stash her pup while she hunts. Younger sea otter pups are as helpless as human newborns. They cannot feed or protect themselves, or even swim. The mother sometimes cannot catch enough food to keep herself and her pup alive.

Sometimes the pups are stashed on dry, stable floating surfaces. As you look up from the surface, can you tell an adult from a pup? How about a dependent juvenile?

Tipping a pup into the water without the mother nearby for protection could result in death of the pup by predation, starvation (due to separation) or hypothermia.

When their preferred diet is disrupted, abandonment and separation increase. Warmer eaters in an El Niño year reduce kelp, which eliminates food for sea urchins and removes shelter, exposing the animals to predation. Sometimes the mother dies of exhaustion and malnutrition while trying to raise a hungry pup. Sometimes a shark eats the mother. The separated pup cries in distress until cold or hunger take it, or until someone hears and paddles out to help.

For some reason, first year pup mortality in California approaches 75%. Lately, even the rescue volunteers are tired from a glut of beached marine mammals.

The issue is not simple. The law provides stiff penalties, many of which seem reasonable to me given the tiny populations of sea otters in the lower 48.

I wish there was a simple explanation, or an easy answer. We have neither.

Best regards and well wishes from sunny California.

Good points.